Complaint Review: Karate America - West Palm Beach Florida

So some of you got duped by this McDojo. I noticed you wrote "if you type in Karate America" your anti-Karate America webpage should come up. Nope. The first thing that comes up on Google if you type in "Karate America" is Shotokan Karate of America. The oldest Karate-do ogranization in the United States (started in 1955 by T. Ohshima, a senior student of Gichin Funakoshi- the founder of Shotokan). You all are being duped by people who use this as a liveihood. SKA (shotokan karate of america) is a non-profit and has hands-down some of the best karateka across the country and world. These MCDojos that hype up kids and adolescents that have no understanding of Martial Arts and budo ARE ALL PROFIT-DRIVEN. The owner on here said it himself, they are there to make money. So that being said, don't ask for crednetials, all that crap because they probably have a bunch of stuff to fool "Karate Moms". Best advice is GET AWAY from these types of schools and find a great non-profit dojo such as Shotokan Karate of America. They operate in almost every state and the fees is $100 a year for SKA membership and $25 a month for local dojo dues. The only testing fee is Shodan exam and is $400. Pretty great savings compared to these idiotic MCDojos you ppl fall for. This is because SKA is non-profit and the instructors, shihan, and governing body do it as their passion, not for their money. They are almost all professionals in various fields and Karate is their passion, not their job. Get a life, "Karate America". You are a disgrace to Karate-do. - SKA member, 10/25/13 

Im very sorry you feel this way. We try to make all of our students happy, but unfortunately, sometimes that proves impossible. 

Our instructors do care very much for the children in their classes, which is why they chose this career. (Just come to one of our events and watch the interaction yourselfthe smiling and motivated children and cheering parents.)  If our instructors sole concern was money, they could find a much easier way to make it. Being a professional martial arts instructor takes an enormous
amount of time and energy, as well as more continuous training than almost any other career that I can think of. The teaching certification process is long and arduous and takes upwards of a few years to complete, and includes physical and written requirements overseen by our national organization. The instructors are required to attend meetings twice a week as well as a workout following each meeting. Karate America is always researching the best and latest teaching methods, and all the instructors are required to learn about and help decide the best way to implement each new method. All of this takes a special kind of person, someone who is devoted to the betterment of their students lives.

Being that our instructors are so highly qualified, Karate America understands the importance of paying them. They have families to support just like everyone else and cannot afford to teach for free; therefore, the schools need to make a certain amount of money. Yes, we have to make money. This is a business. Wedepend on the memberships in our billing system to pay the instructors and keep the doors open. As you may well guess, the last few years have been just as hard on this company as everyone else. We do everything we can to help our students, but we also have to keep an eye on the bigger picture.

In order to try to win back your confidence, we would like to offer 3 months of training at any of our schools for free. If you would like to take advantage of this, please call the main office and we will set everything up for you.

Sincerely,

Karate
America Employee

We did not let our son just quit. You obviously didn't read the above comments. Our son had a serious injury and could no longer take the classes per his doctor. I have played semi pro tennis for most of my teenage and young adult years so i know what dedication and sacrifice and we instill this in our children everyday. Karate America is all about money, they do not care about the children. I hope anybody that reads this reconsiders putting their children in an organization that does not care about them. Obviously all they want is the money! They are scum bags and they will pay the ultimate price one day.

Plain and simple parents who let there children QUIT teach there children to be QUITTERS.

Doesn't matter if it's baseball (my favorite), soccer, football, or karate.

Do nothing which is of no use. Miyamoto Musashi

Seems most of the complaints on this site about martial arts either is summed up by either I don't feel like paying or Mom and Dad are tired of driving to the lessons.

I've been following a few of these post and finally have to add my thoughts. ALL martial arts schools have different levels of training. It's like golf. Better clubs = more $. A group lesson if you can find any is much cheaper than a private lesson with a PRO.

All martial arts have good points. The better qualified do charge more $. Can't imagine what Chuck Norris would charge for an hour. I bet he'd sign you up on a contract too ;

If your not sure about the school BEFORE joining look for the following.....

1. Are the instructors certified?

2. Is the school an accredited school (if you ask and they say what does that mean run for the door)

3. Is the school part of a National Organization (a governing body with rules and regulations)

But complaining here after the fact seems to have no use whatsoever. You either checked out the school, decided you liked it, and signed up for what you could afford or you didn't.

I'd go back to class pay as you agreedand get what you paid for.

Angela, I could not agree more with you. This company is a slimy organization filled with trainers that are sub par and business practices that are very unethical. We are talked into getting the black Gi, i cannot remember what the program was called. We were not told that it initiates a new 2 year contract. Our son had an injury and our doctor told us he would need to stop karate. We sent the Dr. information to corporate and they told us "sorry, we cannot help you" Now they are trying to hit us up for almost $3000 and it has been turned over to collections and on my wifes credit report. Luckily I have quite a bit of money and an in house council for my business. We are preparing a lawsuit as we speak and are also trying to find other individuals who have been duped by this company so we can possibly look at a class action suit.  We will be putting up a website here in the coming months so keep an eye out for it. When you type in karate america the site will come up in the coming weeks. Dont worry, we will get back at these scum.

The problem with some people is that they cannot speak up and talk to the person/company that they are upset with. If this woman did not want her child to try out the leadership training she could have spoken up and let the instructors know, which she did not. Again, people have a choice to enroll in a basic or leadership program. A basic program is just that. A simple straightforward class teaching basic taekwondo techniques and self defense. It is a short program and this is explained from the get go. If the child wants to continue on and learn advanced techniques and earn a black belt, they need to be in a higher level program. People like to vent on internet outlets but do not speak directly to us. The cost is known at the time of enrollment. Again, everyone has a choice. Of course the children are going to enjoy the advanced training and the weapons. If our programs were not enjoyable, we would not be in business. A merchandise price list always hangs by the counter, nothing to hide here. Belt testings do cost 60 dollars and include the ceremony, belt, and DVD. Not an unfair amount in my opinion. No one is held at gunpoint and forced to sign a contract they do it by choice. Check out some other schools in the area, we have the largest organization and the most happy students. If you want to train in a 10 foot square room on carpet with no air conditioning, go pay 50 bucks a month. If you want high quality training in a nice facility,well you get what you pay for.